[1] As we head into another election cycle, many voters feel weary, frustrated, and close to despair. Public faith in the political system has all but evaporated. Whichever party wins, the outcome feels depressingly familiar: grand promises, unmet expectations, and a country often worse off than before. Corruption remains rampant. Cronyism flourishes. Injustice persists. Meanwhile, life remains a struggle for all too many.

[2] Anwar Ibrahim is but the latest in a long line of leaders promising hope but leaving only disappointment. I decided some time ago that if the next election offered nothing but the same discredited faces, I would not vote. Participating in a futile exercise makes a mockery of democracy.

[3] For some time now, voters have felt politically trapped, having to always choose between the lesser of two or three evils – Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional or Perikatan Nasional. That is a terrible situation to be in because it means that no matter who wins, you still end up with evil.

[4] Which is why Parti Bersama is drawing attention. Rafizi and Nik Nazmi are building something genuinely different: a party that funds itself through ordinary citizens, recruits candidates openly, and treats Malaysians as citizens to be served rather than ethnic blocs to be exploited. It is a conscious repudiation of the backroom deals, patronage networks, and money politics that have corrupted Malaysian governance for decades. Unlike parties chasing shortcuts to power, they are building a real grassroots movement for change. 

[5] Their platform reflects this too — less preoccupied with race and religion than with building a prosperous, inclusive, and just society. Social security reform, migrant labour policy, institutional accountability, democratic reform — these have been promised before and quietly shelved. Bersama seems intent on making them the centre of its politics, not the footnote.

[6] Both men have deep roots in the Reformasi movement. It has defined their adult lives and their political careers. They know what the movement stood for — and what it has become. Walking away from PKR couldn’t have been easy. That they did it anyway speaks of an abiding commitment to what Reformasi was always meant to be. They also represent the generational change the country needs — younger, widely respected, and unburdened by the baggage that has made so many of their predecessors objects of disdain, if not contempt.

[7] Critics have noted that both men served as ministers in Anwar’s cabinet without particular distinction, and that Rafizi moved against Anwar only after losing a party election. These are fair points. But they miss something important. Rafizi and Nik Nazmi walked away from power, patronage, and the comfort of incumbency to build something from scratch — on principle, with a lot of their own money, without guaranteed reward. That is not the behaviour of opportunists but people who are passionate about their cause.

[8] I have been disappointed before. I backed Mahathir in GE14 and Anwar in GE15, and came to regret both. So I understand the scepticism. Yes, Bersama is untested. Yes, Rafizi and Nik Nazmi have little record to run on. Yes, I may end up adding their names to my long list of political regrets.

[9] But what exactly is the safe choice? BN? PN? PH? We have tested all of them and found them wanting. The risk isn’t in supporting Bersama. The risk is in telling ourselves that the same corrupt, incompetent, dishonest or bigoted politicians will somehow do better the next time around. That is not caution. That is delusion.

[10] There is something else. Twenty-five thousand Malaysians — among them, by most accounts, a majority of Malays — signed up within days of Bersama’s launch. Many had never joined a political party before. The numbers suggest something simple: a public tired of being managed, frightened, and taken for granted. That is not a data point. That is the sound of a country that has not given up on itself, of a country coming alive again because, finally, there’s an alternative.

[11] The case for Bersama is clear: they are the only party that is trying to do politics differently, and Malaysia desperately needs politics done differently. They have the vision, the integrity, and the courage to build something our country has never had — a politics of principle over patronage, of citizens over cronies, of the future over the past. Back them. Hold them to their promises. And give our country the chance it deserves. For the first time in a long time, something better is possible. Do not let this moment pass.

[Dennis Ignatius |Kuala Lumpur | Tuesday,  16 June 2017]